So this week, at writer's group, we had a particularly entertaining writing prompt. The prompt was: "You've just become a super villain and decided to take out an ad on Craigslist for minions. Write the ad." There were many good responses. Unfortunately, I don't remember most of them. Here's what I wrote, however:

Wanted: intelligent competent breathing minions for semi-covert work. Must be willing to travel. Must be willing to time-travel. Laboratory experience a plus, laboratory subject experience highly sought. Uniform provided, also replacement uniforms. You'll need them. Competitive pay. That is, you'll be competing for your pay. Benefits include health, dental, undeath, and abduction-by-time-traveling-ferrets insurance. Opportunities available for immediate start.

I should be rolling in the minions in no time...

So this week, I started a major project for work. Actually, let me step back and explain a little about my job. After working in retail in various capacities for many years, I finally finished my Bachelor's of Science in Game and Simulation Programming. With that, I was able to land a job working as a Software Support Specialist at a point of sale company. So I've gone from working in retail to doing tech support. For retail. My Master Plan is to do this while going into business designing small app-sized games (and eventually bigger projects as well).
In any case, the office I work at is generally divided into the sections: grocery, hospitality, and hardware. I work in the hospitality department, so I generally work with restaurants, bars, and the occasional church or university. The products my department supports are entirely different than the products supported by the grocery department. The only similarity is that they both run on computers.

Recently, I was asked to assist with a major software upgrade for a chain of grocery stores that have contacted with us, spread throughout Illinois and Missouri. The project includes a major software upgrade, add well as upgrading the servers' memory and replacing a few computers at reach site. The list of stores is being split between our office and another of my company's offices in St. Louis. I'm scheduled to upgrade two stores a week for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Most of them I'm doing on my own, which makes me nervous, but they wouldn't have given me this project if they didn't think I was able to handle it. Thankfully, the first two stores were designated "training" stores where me and my St. Louis counterpart would be trained by someone who helped design the systems in how to perform the upgrade.

Monday night was our first training install. It did not go well. It was going along fine until we tried to run the upgrade program itself. An hour later and we found out that at some point, the program freaked out entirely and uninstalled itself. And then, one of their servers stopped communicating. Eventually, we got the server back online, but none of the programs we needed were running. We got those running, but then the registers didn't work. We spent the next four hours trying to piece the system back together, and finished just in time for the store to open again. As a result, the project has been pushed back almost two weeks.

Like I said, Murphy was a !*#/÷.

...You can never find me when your total is $5.01?

So, wow it's been a long time since I've contributed *anything* to this page. The past year has been busy and chaotic for both better and worse. Now things are finally where I can say I feel organized and stable. I'm a little embarrassed that is taken a year to get to this point, but hey, the important party is I got here. Of the things I've accomplished, I think I'm most excited that I'm finally within spitting distance of the end of the first draft of my book, a project over a decade in the making! Of course, this means I'll be going back to the beginning and starting draft 2, but that's beside the point. And now that I know where everything is going, maybe there's a chance it'll be published within my lifetime.

Anyway, signing off for now! Plenty more to come.

As my best friends know already, yesterday I put in an application for a lease on an apartment. This is the single over-arching goal I've been working toward for the past four years. Everything I've done has been to step closer to getting back out on my own. In December I was talked out of doing it. I wasn't happy, but in the end, it wasn't quite time. Now, the only thing left is to actually take the final step and get back out. With any luck, that process is now underway.

I have the income I need to support myself. It's a tight budget, but it works and I can keep putting money in my savings. And instead of living paycheck to paycheck like I did last time, I'll have a $10k safety net to fall back on.

I have the money, I have the credit score, my debts are long since paid. The only thing that concerns me is my rental history. I didn't leave my last apartment in good terms. I don't think it counts as an eviction and I can't find that anywhere in my history. Therefore, I don't think it'll be a problem, but I can't help wonder. And worry.

Beyond the concerns about my past, I also worry about telling mom. I wanted her to be involved this time. I felt it would make things go smoother. But she has resisted me at almost every step of the way. She's fine with looking at apartments and she's fine with talking about them. But as soon as the subject of actually applying comes up, she's suddenly silent. I wanted this time to be different. And maybe it will be. But this is still something that I have to do myself. She won't like it, but what can she do? If I'm approved, then the process has started and it's not in her power to stop. She can't withdraw support, I'm doing this on my own merit and finances. If she threatens to kick me out, I have somewhere to go. And if, God forbid, I'm not approved, then there's no harm done and I know what I need to deal with. I can't deal with what I can't see. It occurred to me the other day that, despite having the best intentions, with mom involved, nothing was happening. Sure I was looking at apartments and I was saving money, but what good does it do to find a place I like if I'm not going to do anything about it?

So I did. I've taken charge of the situation and I'm trying to move forward. All I have to do right now is wait for an answer. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm hopeful. And I'm waiting.

Waiting sucks.

First off, I'm sure this will offend someone, so if it does, I apologize in advance. So, I heard on the news this morning that they're going to be opening a Starbucks in a funeral home, somewhere in South Carolina. You read that right. Frankly, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. I mean, the whole thing is hilarious. Can you imagine what wakes are going to be like now?

Mourner: Man, grandma sure looks peaceful...*siiiiiip*

Cashier: Ok, so that's one large mocha frappuccino, one medium coffee, and one lemon bar. Your total is $14.95, I'm sorry for your loss. Come back soon!

Cashier: Welcome to Starbucks! Would you be interested in our "Eternal Rest Special?" Our brownies are to die for!

Yyyyup. I'm going to hell.

Wow, it's been a while since I spent any sizable time here. For those of you not already in the know, last week I (finally) got a job working in Information Technology. The company is Retail Data Systems and they specialize in Point of Sale systems for retail shops. Everything from grocery stores to restaurants are in their client list. My job is Support Specialist for their hospitality division. Which means I'll be focusing on our restaurant clients.

Essentially what my job entails is to set up the register (point of sale) hardware and software, program the client's menu into the system, and install it on site. We also do troubleshooting of any systems we install. When I say "system," I mean the registers, the back office servers, receipt printers, kitchen printers, credit machines (the hardware that processes credit transactions), and anything else the client needs as part of the PoS system. I still have a *ton* to learn, but so far so good, and I'm having a blast to boot.

Thought I still have about a week out of my two week notice to my previous employer, I started training at RDS almost immediately. Which means I haven't had a day off since last Wednesday and probably won't be off until next Wednesday (RDS is closed for the 4th). It's going to be awesome to have a regular 9 to 5, Monday through Friday job for once.

Anyway, that's my quick update! See you around!

So I have a friend. Well, I have several, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. In any case, she recently got her first job (that I am aware of) since getting out of college. Note, I didn't say "graduate." She's working as a salad bar attendant, if I remember correctly, at a pizza shop near her. She works part time and does a good job from what I understand. About a month ago, I started back at a Barnes & Noble near me, working as a cafe server. The job is kind of like running a small restaurant, typically by oneself, so it can get very busy.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this story. Today I got home after a four day stint of 8 to 9 hour days. Not quite a full week, but it's fairly hard work and can be pretty stressful. I told my friend that I was going to call it a night because I was tired and stressed, to which she responded "But I do the same thing and I'm not tired!" I've worked at a restaurant myself before. It's busy, but it's not quite the same. I listed the (many) tasks I have to do at the cafe and asked if she had to do the same things. Note, I included dishes, cleaning tables/equipment/etc, filling orders, ringing up customers, making food, etc. This are things that, in a restaurant, are normally split among various teams of people. She responded that she did and didn't get any breaks at all.

When I politely told her that I found it hard to believe, she responded with:

"No i make salads&i have done just as much work as you,hell i bet you havent had to muck out 28 horse stalls in 120 degree heat every day for summer&then in below zero in winter"

I was about to lose it. I may not have that hard a job right now, but I have worked a physically and mentally exhausting job before. So I told her (reminded anyway) about my time as a ramp serviceman at United in Chicago:

"No, I haven't had to muck stalls. But I did work as a ramp serviceman for well over a year. That involved slinging dozens upon dozens of bags, typically 50 to 100 pounds hunched over in what amounts to a big metal can in summer heat and fucking cold Chicago winters. I've had to work outside in snowstorms so bad I couldn't see five feet in front of me. I've also had to do that job 5 days a week, a minimum of 40 hours a week with a back so thrown out that I could barely stand let alone lift anything. But I didn't have the fucking option to take a break or quit. I had to work through it because I needed the job to pay my bills. Don't pretend that you're the only one who has ever had to work hard."

That was the polite version. Her response (edited for punctuation and name substitution):

"Dont you use those f words at me [Ces],and im not pretending anything. i know you&i both have had to work our asses off at times ok"

Sometimes, I think I'm too polite. This was my (final) response:

"You are not my mother. I used those words to express how pissed off I am right now. You tried to insinuate that I don't know what hard work is and I find that downright insulting and uncalled for. I will not apologize for my choice in words. What I said was downright diplomatic compared to what I wanted to say. And you're right. We have both worked very hard in our lives. I just needed
you to see that. In any case, I'm *very* tired. I've had a long day and a long week for that matter. Thankfully, I have a few days off starting tomorrow. As such, I'm going to bed."

I know there are those out there who have worked much harder than I, and I don't mean to lessen that. For me, this little exchange really managed to ruffle my scales on a day when I was already stressed. I try not to bitch and moan about my problems, especially knowing there are others out there who are far worse off. Even so, I felt the need to vent. And I thank those of you who read this for the chance to do so.

So there were these three teen girls at the cafe today. Two of them bought frappucchinos (a strawberries and cream and a mocha cookie crumble) and one bought a water and a brownie. The girl who bought the brownie turned to the girl who bought the mocha cookie frap and said, "You got coffee? Coffee makes you fat!"

-.=.-

So I'm finally getting inspired (not to mention in the mood) to work on my comic. I think part of the problem has been that I had trouble coming up with ideas for strips, but my job as a barista is a rich resource in that regard. XP I'm hoping that as I get moving on it I'll get more motivated. Getting better at drawing my characters couldn't hurt either.

Wow, I can't believe that it took this long to finally get my profile up and running. It's really late and I'm *really* tired, so this is going to be the shortest post in history. Suffice it to say, if you're reading this and you want to know more about me or just want to chat, send me a message.